[pmayjr]

Prairie Meadows is a really nice CASINO. But I noticed they don't put much effort into the horse racing aspect there. They have a nice (and large enough) simulcasting area upstairs, but for live racing, there doesn't seem like much seating inside or out.

Someone can feel free to correct me on this, but the 2 times I was there, it seemed like they had a small 3-tier strip of indoor seating for live racing (tables I mean). And outside, there's no bleachers or mass-seating right? It's just some benches...

I will say that the casino is nice and clean and all of that, and IT IS BUSY. Both times I was there, it was poppin off. And no offense to the Iowa contingent on this site, but Des Moines doesn't seem to have much to offer from a leisure standpoint. So I bet eventhough racing losses were that big, I bet the casino still made a butt-load of $$$$.

I think as far as their racing dates and times go, they're pretty good. Like Canterbury, they run in the summer when it's warm enough. Usually Derby day-Labor day or a little after, and they run at night. They run at night, so they can get the simulcast feed to more locations, and they're not butting heads with the big-dogs (NY, KY, Cali, etc.) that run during the day.

But putting in more seating for live racing, and maybe adding a turf course (they have a full mile oval there, so there is room for it) might help them.